Source: Telegraph
West Ham United to back Gianfranco Zola after meeting with Scott Duxbury
A meeting was held with chief executive Scott Duxbury in the wake of Tuesday's defeat away to Bolton Wanderers which left West Ham in the bottom three. [LNB]The three-hour meeting is understood to have been extremely positive, and was far from a 'vote of confidence'-style meeting, and examined the season so far and the improvements that need to be made. [LNB] Related ArticlesTottenham target Matthew UpsonWest Ham and Zola are victims of the credit crunch'Robert Green will recover from Bolton blunder'Sullivan and Gold unlikely to satisfy West Ham owners'Liverpool target Scott Parker'Sport on televisionInterestingly, the managerial pair put forward an analysis of the matches which reveals that nine points have been lost through individual errors such as Robert Green's blunder at Bolton which need to be eradicated. [LNB]Indeed, if West Ham were to beat Chelsea on Sunday — admittedly a big if, given their form - they would be one point better off than they were this time last season with matches against other relegation strugglers to come in the next few weeks. [LNB]As it stands they are only two points worse off than last December. Not that anyone is attempting to gloss over the club's predicament. [LNB]Zola and Clarke, who maintain their squad is technically better than last season, even if the balance is not right, are hopeful that funds will be made available to strengthen in the January transfer window. [LNB]For this to happen West Ham will have to sell. Chairman Andrew Bernhardt — who is privately furious at the way the club is being portrayed as in a financial crisis and has to be sold - has promised that all funds raised in the transfer market will be reinvested directly. [LNB]There is no pressure to sell - and there will certainly be no firesale - to meet the club's financial commitments while the granting of a nine-month extension to the debt moratorium for Straumur, the bank which owns 70 per cent of West Ham's parent company, CB Holdings, has helped. [LNB]The obvious candidate to go, should the club decide to sell, would be Matthew Upson who has refused to enter negotiations over a new deal and with one year left on his contract after this season, and having turned 30, could leave. [LNB]Upson is wanted by Manchester City, who need another central defender with Joleon Lescott ruled out for two months, and they may be willing to meet the £12 million asking price which would give Zola the funds to strengthen his defence and attack. [LNB]Upson is also understood to be anxious to go in the hope that he will cement his place in England's World Cup squad. However his form has been disappointing this season and although he has been out injured of late with a hamstring problem there was dismay at the club that the captain chose not to travel with the squad to Bolton. [LNB]If Upson did go — and West Ham will not countenance bids for other players such as Scott Parker or Carlton Cole — then Zola knows they have to spend wisely. [LNB]There is an acceptance at the club that some of the recent purchases have not been successful which has sharpened the focus on the role played by technical director Gianluca Nani who has been responsible for the signings. [LNB]At £6 million Alessandro Diamanti, whose transfer had to be funded by the sale of James Collins, is yet to impress even if Carlo Ancelotti singled him out for praise on Friday, hailing his 'fantastic technical quality' and ability at set-pieces which have been a problem for Chelsea of late. [LNB]Radoslav Kovac and Luis Jimenez — Zola's signing — have been disappointments while there is still frustration over the money that was wasted on the young striker Savio who has since been sold to Fiorentina especially as money is tight. There is, therefore, concern at Nani's transfer dealings and, to some extent, his influence on first-team matters. [LNB]One of the accusations levelled at Nani is that he has not recruited enough players of the quality of those who have left. [LNB]He will argue that he is working to a tight budget — and the landscape of his job has changed dramatically since the collapse of the business empire of former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson - but most of those signed by West Ham have come from Italy and there has not been a great deal of imagination in the acquisitions. [LNB]The situation has been amplified by the campaign waged to portray the club as being in financial meltdown. It has created an air of uncertainty which has filtered through to the dressing room with Zola and Clarke expressing their concern as to what might happen. [LNB]Duxbury has moved to reassure them on this also and is believed to have stressed to the pair that they need to get back to their winning partnership of last season. [LNB]It's believed that there are now four bids on the table with Rothschild, who have been appointed to sift through potential investors, including a high-profile offer from former Birmingham City co-owner David Sullivan. [LNB]Bernhardt will take his time to consider what to do next and he may eventually allow one or more of the potential investors access to the club's books. [LNB]All parties are still sold on the project of developing young players to work alongside a core of seasoned professionals although, bizarrely, it appears to be the latter who have under-performed this campaign with Green's form also a concern. [LNB]Zola and Clarke have been an effective team at West Ham with the latter, in particular, a talented coach and organiser who perhaps needs to be allowed more influence at the club. [LNB]
